Monitoring compliance with TB medication from a fingerprint
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A novel rapid technique of monitoring drug levels of tuberculosis medication
IRAS ID
207377
Contact name
Melanie Bailey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Surrey
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health concern in the United Kingdom (UK) and all over the world. Treatment of TB requires the use of multiple antibiotics for several months. Failure to comply with the full course of treatment is a risk factor in the emergence of antibiotic resistance, which in the case of TB is difficult and expensive to treat. Clinicians need a rapid and cheap method of measuring patient’s drug levels of TB medication, both to assess compliance when they suspect they are not adhering to treatment and to assess possible drug absorption problems.
The aim of the research is to evaluate the potential use of fingerprints to monitor drug levels of TB medication. Fingerprints can offer many advantages over other collection media such as blood and urine because of the non-invasive nature of the sampling method and turnaround time of results. The principle objective is whether it is possible to carry out quantitative measurements of TB medication and their metabolites in fingerprints using ambient mass spectrometry (AMS) methods. There is a suite of techniques available at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and University of Surrey to test the potential detection of TB medication in fingerprints.
Analysis will be performed on fingerprint samples collected from patients registered with Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust. The study is aimed at individuals (female and male, 18 – 85 years old) that are taking treatment for TB. This study hopes to obtain up to 60 fingerprint samples (25 samples from patients currently taking TB medication, 25 samples from patients who have completed their TB treatment and 10 samples from individuals who have never received TB medication (negative controls from clinical staff)). This study will provide the framework necessary to evaluate the potential to use fingerprints to monitor drug levels of TB medication.REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1663
Date of REC Opinion
8 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion